Sonic Team Adventure
by Rocketknight56
Summary: A story starring Tails trying to meet up with everyone for the weekend but one thing leads to another, including a new adversary. SonicxAmy, KnucklesxRouge, TailsxCream, Shadowx?, later on. This is my first fanfic, so please read and review. Thank you.
1. A New Day

Disclaimer: I unfortunately don't own any of the characters used in this story.  
  
I wrote this story out of happiness that I finally got all of the "A" emblems in Sonic Heroes, so you can expect to see most of the characters from there later in this fan fiction. This is my first ever fan fiction so please don't be too rough when you review, however please feel free to review. Thank you.  
  
Chapter 1  
  
It was a hot summer morning in the Mystic Ruins that day. The sun's rays had gently landed on the roof of a building. The building was better known as Tails' workshop which he would frequently visit whenever he wasn't on an adventure with one of his friends.  
  
The sun was at an angle that one its golden rays had shined through a window leading to the young fox's bedroom and landed directly upon his face as he laid in his bed. Tails woke up with a healthy yawn and stretched his arms to greet the day. He then looked at his calendar which was on the adjacent wall and noticed a circle at the end of the current week.  
  
"Oh wow, only six days left!." he exclaimed in joy. "I've got to go find everybody make sure that they're all ready for the big day this weekend."  
  
Tails knew that he would need help in order to get in touch with everybody and automatically thought of asking Sonic first. He washed up in his bathroom as quickly as he could and then quickly dashed out the door. At that moment he remembered that Sonic was supposed to meet him in the Mystic Ruins to hang out like they usually do. Tails stopped just a few feet from his front door and decided to wait for him.  
  
Several hours passed from that moment and Tails was getting worried. He knew that Sonic wasn't the most punctual person in the world, but he also knew that it wouldn't take the fastest hedgehog in the world this long to come from Station Square.  
  
"Where could he be?" Tails wondered as he ran down the long staircase from his mountaintop workshop. "He may be irresponsible sometimes, but he's never this careless when he makes a promise."  
  
At the bottom of the stairs Tails saw something that made his stop in his tracks. He saw what appeared to be several dozen footprints that were placed by someone moving very quickly and several laser burns in the ground surrounding them.  
  
Tails knew the sign of a struggle when he saw one. The footprints and laser burns were faint and a least a couple of hours old, so they might have been made that morning while he was sleeping. He knew he was a heavy sleeper but was still amazed at how he could have missed something like this. He quickly ran over to the nearby train which was heading towards Station Square. In his haste, he accidentally tripped over something that was protruding out of the ground. He turned around and saw a glow from where he had tripped.  
  
The light was faint, but it was unmistakable. He'd know that light anywhere. He quickly dug around the glowing object and discovered the yellow chaos emerald!  
  
"Wow, how did one of these things get buried in here and why was it left halfway through the ground?" Tails asked. He picked up the emerald and decided to ask questions later as he barely made it through the train door before it closed.  
  
When Tails arrived in station square, he went to all of Sonic's favorite hangouts in hopes that his theory of what happened in the Mystic Ruins was wrong. Tails nervously went from one place to another asking if anyone had seen Sonic around. His search was in vain because nobody had seen Sonic that day.  
  
This series of events proved that Tails was indeed right about happened in the Mystic Ruins this morning. Sonic must have been there but was attacked by one of Dr. Eggman's robots and possibly taken hostage in order to take the chaos emerald that Tails found in the ground today.  
"That's it!" Tails thought. "Sonic must have buried the emerald so that Eggman wouldn't find it and then tried to lead the robot away, but got captured in the process!"  
  
"I've got to save him!" Tails shouted as he made a quick turn around a street corner. After Tails had completed his turn, he accidentally crashed into the back of somebody. The force of the crash had knocked him on his back.  
  
"Ow, that smarts." he said in a frustrated tone. He looked up at the person he crashed into in order to apologize.  
  
"I'm sorry, I didn't see where I was going and I...." He got a closer look at who he had crashed into and suddenly became a lot more timid than usual. "Uh-oh, this just isn't my day."  
  
Tails realized he might in a lot more trouble than he thought.  
  
Well that's it for Chapter 1. How did you like it? Please reply soon. The faster you reply, the faster I'll write the next chapter and take you of this cliffhanger. 


	2. An Unlikely Friendship

Disclaimer: I unfortunately don't own any of the characters used in this story.  
  
Excuse me, but can someone explain to me what the terms "kawaii" and "lemon" mean? in one of the reviews? I'm new to this web site and would appreciate it very much. Thank you. Please enjoy this chapter. Oh and just for the record, I'm just going to copy my disclaimer in every chapter. Have fun reading.  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Tails slowly looked up from his fall just to realize who he had crashed into. He would recognize those curves and those wings anywhere. It was Rouge the Bat. Tails wasn't completely intimidated by her, but he was no fool either. He remembered how short-tempered she was and that she was able to easily stand up to Knuckles in fighting ability.  
  
"Oh, hello there Rouge." he said in a polite tone. "You're looking lovely as ever. How are you doing today?" He tried to stay on her good side and not cross her. He expected her to say something snappy like "Hey, watch where you're going foxboy!" or "You've got a lot of nerve crashing into a lady like me, kid!" but what she said next completely surprised him.  
  
"Oh hi, Tails." she replied in a dull tone. "I'm fine. How are you doing today?"  
  
Tails was completely shocked. She didn't have any sassy quips or any sarcastic comments to make. He looked closely at the expression on her face and noticed a somewhat sadness, like she was too distracted by something to care about the fact that Tails had crashed into her at top speed. The really odd thing that Tails noticed was that Rouge was holding the red chaos emerald in her hand.  
  
Tails knew that Rouge loved jewelry and was very curious why she seemed so upset. Being the gentle hearted young fox that he was, he tried to cheer her up. Her expression was so saddening that Tails almost forgot the reason he was here was to look for Sonic. He looked closely at the red emerald and took an educated guess about what was making her upset.  
  
"Um....excuse me Miss Rouge, would like to talk about it? C'mon we can take a walk. That should cheer you up." Tails said in an optimistic manner.  
  
Rouge was apparently feeling so downhearted that she accepted the young fox's proposal without any fuss. They then started walking down the current street they were on.  
  
As Tails walked with Rouge, he remembered that Sonic could be in danger and knew that he needed to find him as soon as possible, but he couldn't abandon Rouge in her current state. He had to see if his guess about what was troubling her was accurate, even though he knew it was a sensitive subject for her to discuss.  
  
"He doesn't hate you, you know." Tails said without completely thinking what he was going to say next. "It's Knuckles you're thinking about, right. That's why you were holding the red emerald so tightly, isn't it?"  
  
Rouge stopped right there with a look of realization in her face. She knew that Tails was right even though she didn't want to admit to him or to herself.  
  
"Or it could be your love of jewelry, I don't know." Tails continued. "But what I do know is that Knuckles doesn't hate you, in fact....he really likes you. When we went on that journey looking for the ARK, all he kept saying was "I can't wait to see that batgirl!" and "I have to find that batgirl!" Rouge smiled listening to Tails' imitations of Knuckles. "The point is, that even though I'm not completely certain about this, I'm pretty positive he said the word "batgirl" more than the word "emerald", which means that he must like you more than his emerald. Of course, I'm only eight years old and I'm not too certain about how teenagers' minds work so I could be wrong. I mean, if you like someone, you should tell them, right?"  
  
Rouge was hesitant to speak at first, but then she looked down to her left side and said to the young fox, "Tails....thank you."  
  
"Oh you're welcome. Why are you thanking me?" Tails asked.  
  
"For being kind to me and cheering me up when I really needed it. I realize that I haven't been the nicest person to you or your friends and for that I'm sorry." Rouge said with a sincere expression on her face.  
  
"Anytime." Tails said proudly, knowing that he had helped someone in need. "Excuse me, Miss Rouge, I hate to sound rude, but I have a favor I would like to ask you."  
  
"Yes." she said softly.  
  
"Well, the reason I crashed into you like that earlier is because I think Sonic was kidnapped by Dr. Eggman and since you're better at finding things than me, could you please help me find him? Please?" Tails requested.  
  
It was true that Rouge was an experienced treasure huntress, but she didn't think that qualified her to be a hedgehog huntress as well. She looked down at the young fox and saw the concern about his friend in his gentle blue eyes. She thought to herself, "After he just helped me, how can I refuse?"  
  
"Sure!" she said with a confident grin on her face. "I'll help you find him, after all I am the world's greatest treasure huntress! But I do have one favor I have to ask you."  
  
"What is it?" Tails said with a look of renewed hope in his eyes.  
  
"Don't call me "Miss" Rouge, just Rouge will be fine. "Miss" makes me sound like a little old lady. I'm already older than you and your little friends. I don't need to be reminded of it." Rouge said in a positive tone.  
  
"Alright then Rouge, let's find Sonic!" Tails shouted.  
  
The duo was about to head off until they heard something behind them. They quickly turned around only to notice two figures running towards them at top speed.  
  
Tails knew that this was going to be a very long day, and when he got a closer look at silhouettes moving in his direction, he knew that they wouldn't make his day any easier.  
  
Well that's it for Chapter 2. How did you like this one? Please reply soon. The faster you reply, the faster I'll write the next chapter and take you of this next cliffhanger. 


	3. Friends And Foes Alike

Disclaimer: I unfortunately don't own any of the characters used in this story.  
  
I still haven't got any reviews yet. I'm a little disappointed by that fact, but oh well. I hope this chapter makes the story long enough so that people will care enough to read it. Hopefully, this chapter will make you want to read the rest of the story as soon as I'm done typing it. I would like to know how I'm doing is all. Thank you, and enjoy.  
  
Chapter 3  
  
As the duo of mysterious figures ran towards Tails, he was startled, but only at first. Rouge stepped in front of the young fox in a protective manner incase the pair of unknown visitors posed a threat. As they came closer, Tails knew that his suspicions were right about who the mysterious newcomers were.  
  
"Hi Tails. Hey there Rouge." said a cheerful familiar feminine voice.  
  
"Hello Tails, Hello Miss Rouge." said another polite feminine voice.  
  
"Chao, chao!" said the small chao in the younger girl's hands.

"Hi there girls." Tails replied back.

It was Amy Rose and Cream the Rabbit with Cheese the Chao. They were spending the day together and saw that Tails and Rouge were alone, so they wanted to know if they wanted to hang out together. Tails quickly explained the situation about Sonic and how he met up with Rouge.  
  
"That's awful! My sweet, sweet Sonic could be in danger!" Amy cried out so that it drew the attention of everyone walking on the streets nearby. Amy became slightly embarrassed and quickly put her hands over her mouth. Rouge let out a small laugh, which agitated Amy even more.  
  
"So Rouge, I see you've got a pretty good grip on that RED emerald of yours. What's the matter, you couldn't get Knuckles to go out with you so you resorted to using the red emerald as a replacement! That's pretty pathetic Rouge!" Amy shouted out with a small laugh of her own to end her remark.  
  
Amy had crossed the line with that statement. Normally, Rouge would try to maintain her cool at least for a little while when she was in public, but Amy had hurt her in her one sensitive spot when she was in a vulnerable situation. This caused Rouge to storm up to Amy, regardless of what the people around her would think.  
  
"Why you little pink brat! How dare you speak like that to a lady like me!" Rouge shouted raising her hand in anger.  
  
Amy would usually be scared and back down in a situation like this, but the thought of Sonic being in danger gave Amy the courage she needed to hold her ground, even against a much stronger person like Rouge.  
  
"You're not more of a lady, you're just older than me, that's all! You know it, I know it, everyone knows it, even Knuckles!" Amy blurted out.  
  
Rouge was severely offended by Amy's last comment. She was furious at this point, but her pride was so badly damaged that she couldn't think of good comeback.  
  
"Shut up!" Rouge shouted, her hand gathering dark energy preparing to perform her signature Black Wave technique. "You don't know anything about me!"

"No, please don't attack her Rouge. She didn't mean it, and besides she's a lot younger than you are. Please don't fight! We should all be friends!" Tails begged Rouge pulling her back on her other arm. He didn't doubt Amy's fighting ability, but he knew that she had bit way more than she could chew this time.

"I don't care, she'd better learn some respect!" Rouge shouted so that the whole neighborhood noticed."And I'm the one who will teach her." This statement caused Amy to jump back a good amount in fear.

Rouge was struggling to regain her cool, but the pleas of the gentle young fox who was so kind to her managed to help her calm down. After a few deep breaths, she released the dark energy that she had managed to accumulate and put her hand by her side.  
  
"Thank you Rouge." Tails said in a soft voice. He then turned to Amy who was somewhat frightened from Rouge's outburst but still trying to maintain her poker face so she didn't liet the others know. "Amy, I think you should apologize to her. I know we're friends, but I have to tell you that you were WAY out of line this time."  
  
"Yes, I also think you should say you're sorry and make up with Miss Rouge Amy, because if you don't, you'll be setting a bad example for me and Cheese. Amy, please say you're sorry, because I know you're a kind person and if you don't apologize, it'll stay on your conscience, and I don't want that to happen to my good friend." Cream pleaded.  
  
Amy was truly touched by Cream's words and she knew herself, that she was wrong. She knew what it was like to not have any attention from the man she loved, and knew that it was both cruel and childish to use that as a cheap shot to take advantage of Rouge, no matter what she did.  
  
"Rouge, I'm really sorry." Amy said in her most humble tone. "I know what's its like to be in love, and how fragile your heart can be in those times. No matter how strong you are on the outside, you're sensitive on the inside. I should have respected that more, and I didn't. I know I don't deserve it, but will you forgive me? Please?"  
  
Rouge was skeptical to accept Amy's apology, but she looked down at Tails expression and decided to let go of her grudge and be the bigger lady.  
  
"Okay, I'll accept your apology." Rouge said. "But only as a favor to Tails."  
  
"I guess I had that coming huh?" Amy said in a playful fashion.  
  
"I guess you did." Rouge said confidently.  
  
"Hmmm....tell you what Rouge. To make up for it, I'll do you a favor and find out how Knuckles feels about you. I'll even play matchmaker and set you two kids up. Well what do you say?" Amy said enthusiastically.  
  
"Oh, um....sure. Okay Amy." Rouge said. She was obviously nervous, because her cheeks turned slightly red. Cream and Cheese both noticed this and giggled to themselves.  
  
"Great, now that that's settled, let's find Sonic!" Amy exclaimed.  
  
"Hey, look who it is!" Cream shouted in joy as she looked down the street.  
  
"Oh, wow! Perfect timing!" Amy shouted as she ran to the figure down the street. "Hi, I haven't seen YOU in a while. How are you doing?"  
  
Well that's it for chapter 3. I hope that will make the story long enough to attract reviewers. The sooner you review, the sooner I'll take you off of THIS cliffhanger. Until then, bye. 


	4. Confrontations and Complications

Disclaimer: I unfortunately don't own any of the characters used in this story.  
  
Thanks to my first reviewer, I learned that I was moving too slowly with the plot, so I decided to move quicker. This chapter will definitely have lots of important plot points so I hope this chapter makes up for my slow speed. I've just enjoyed writing this story so much. I hope you all enjoy it.  
  
Chapter 4  
  
As Amy ran towards the ominous figure, he turned around slowly. He wasn't one to flinch at the sound of a girl's screams. It took a lot to shake him up, after all he was the guardian of the Master Emerald, better known as Knuckles the Echidna.  
  
"Hi Knuckles!" Amy screamed as she ran down the street. Tails, Cream, and Cheese were following right behind her. Rouge decided to stay behind because she was still nervous about her feelings for Knuckles. She was normally a brave woman, but she was incredibly intimidated by this task, mainly because she had never felt this way about anyone before. Ever since their fight at Meteor Herd where Knuckles saved her life, she always felt that she had some romantic feelings and was indeed quite taken by the young, rugged, echidna, but for all her cleverness and resources, she had no idea if he returned her feelings, or if he had actually just hated her like she feared.  
  
Amy noticed that Rouge was hiding behind a building's corner in a nearby alleyway. After all, her big white ears were unmistakable. Amy decided to keep her promise to Rouge, but after she asked about her own crush, Sonic. She quickly explained the situation to him in hopes that he would help them.  
  
"So, Sonic's got himself in trouble again, huh?" Knuckles said sternly. "Well, I'm tired of cleaning up HIS messes, I'm not going to bail him out THIS time!"  
  
"But Knuckles, you're the best tracker I've ever met, and you're strongest person we know so we could use your help. Please?", Tails asked.  
  
"I already said NO! I'm here on MY mission! Sonic can take care of himself, and if he can't, well that's on him!" Knuckles said sounding even more stern than last time.  
  
"Please, Mr. Knuckles? We really need your help. Cheese and I are very scared about what could have happened to Sonic. You're the biggest, bravest, strongest person I know. Please help us." Cream pleaded as though she were about to cry.  
  
Knuckles wasn't the most generous person in the world, but he was no bully either. As a fighter, he was used to a lot of things, but he wasn't used to hurting someone so much smaller than himself. He hung his head in acceptance that he would help in the search for Sonic.  
  
"Hey Knuckles, why ARE you here anyway? We'll help you with your situation since you'll help us with ours." Tails said.  
  
"Well, the reason I'm here is because...." and before Knuckles could finish his sentence, a figure running behind him at supersonic speed crashed into him, dropping a white chaos emerald. The hedgehog was groaning from his fall.  
  
"Sonic!" Amy shouted as she quickly ran over and grabbed the injured hedgehog's arm to help him up. "I was so worried about you! I'm glad to see you're alright!"  
  
"It's dejavu all over again, isn't it small pink girl. You still can't tell the difference between that faker and the ultimate life form! After all, I'm much more handsome than he'll ever be." the hedgehog angrily bellowed.  
  
"Oh.....hi Shadow." Amy said in a disappointed tone.  
  
"Well, is that any way to greet the guy who saved your lives aboard the ARK, I have a good mind to....owww!" Shadow said as he stumbled to the ground again. Apparently, his crash into Knuckles had sprained his ankle.  
  
"Wow, that looks like a pretty bad sprain." Tails said as Shadow picked up his emerald with an embarrassed look on his face.  
  
"Let me take a look at that injury." said a mysterious female voice from behind Tails which startled him. When he turned around, he saw Knuckles holding his Master Emerald and an iridescent light was emanating from it. at the center of light, a familiar female figure appeared right in front of Shadow.  
  
"Who are you?" Shadow said with a slightly nervous expression.  
  
"Calm down, my young friend. My name is Tikal, and I am part of Knuckles' original ancestral tribe. When I died, my spirit remained with the emerald, which is why I am here today, assisting him with his mission as guardian of the Master Emerald." she said as she gently placed her hands on Shadow's hurt ankle.  
  
"There's something, familiar about this, like I've experienced this before." Shadow thought to himself, and then he remembered a past memory long ago about when he was created on the ARK, he couldn't fully control his speed and injured himself in a similar fashion. His close friend Maria had tended to his hurt leg in the same way that Tikal was now.  
  
Tikal placed her hand on Shadow's leg and a green light similar to the one shining from the emerald emitted from her hand. After the light dissipated, Shadow stood up, amazed at Tikal's healing powers. Tails then explained the situation about Sonic to everybody.  
  
"So, that ordinary hedgehog has got himself in trouble again? You think nearly blowing up in a capsule shot into space would have taught him not to take foolish chances, but I guess not everyone can be as smart as me, right echidna?" Shadow said smugly. "I mean, how many times CAN you mess your job up? Anyone with half a brain should be able to keep track of ONE emerald, but I guess that's too much to expect from you."  
  
Knuckles was easily offended by his remark and knew that Shadow was trying to compensate for his own blunder by crashing into him. He didn't care about this, he just knew that he didn't like being humiliated, especially in public. He raised his fist in anger and changed his pose into a fighting stance as to challenge Shadow.  
  
"Stop this Knuckles, please. There's no need to fight. Our main concern is to find Sonic and make sure he's safe so please calm down." Tikal cried.  
  
"Well I'm sorry, Tikal but I'm tired of "Pseudo Sonic" here thinking he's superior to everyone else!" Knuckles shouted. He knew from all his experience as a fighter that the first rule to any battle is to know your opponent back to front, and that Shadow's biggest pet peeve was being compared to Sonic. "I thought Sonic had an ego problem, but his is nothing compared to "Sonic 2", the sequel! Tell me Shadow, if you're the ultimate life form, how come you came closest to death after the ARK incident, huh tough guy!" he finished with a confident smile.  
  
"Okay, that's it! You're in for it now!" Shadow exclaimed.  
  
"Bring it on!" Knuckles roared.  
  
"That's enough!" Tails yelled out. "I can't take any more fighting today, okay. So why don't you two just calm down and grow up instead of whining like children!" Everyone was so shocked at Tails' outburst so much that the whole street had a moment of silence.  
  
"Excuse me everyone, but look what Cheese found." Cream said in an excited manner as she held up a light blue emerald. "It was behind a couple of trash cans."  
  
"See Tikal, I knew I sensed one nearby. Now I'm almost done with my mission at last." Knuckles said in relief.  
  
"What IS your mission, Knuckles?" Tails asked.  
  
"Well, a few days ago, the Master Emerald had a strange glow. At that point Tikal came out and told me to find the seven chaos emeralds or the world could be in danger." Knuckles started.  
  
"If the chaos emeralds are not taken to a place beneath the hidden chamber of the island, known as the sealed chamber within several days from now, their powers will be out of control. Everything that is created has a lifespan, and the chaos emeralds are almost at the end of theirs. They must be put to rest in the sealed chamber, or else their power will be unstoppable, and the world will be in peril." Tikal continued.  
  
"We already have a combined total of three emeralds, and my master emerald, so there are only four emeralds left." Knuckles finished.  
  
Amy counted all of the emeralds that she had seen today in her mind and remembered the red emerald and the promise she made to Rouge, who had been listening from behind the alley she was in. Luckily, the alley was to Knuckles' backside, so Amy hatched a quick plan to find out how he felt about Rouge.  
  
"Ummm.... Knuckles, I'm just curious. How do you feel about Rouge. I mean do you find her....physically attractive? You seem to act quite differently around her, so I wanted to know if that was the reason."  
  
"What?!" Knuckles shouted.  
  
"Oh, the sixty-four million dollar question." Shadow said with an arrogant grin. "You heard the lady, Knucklehead. So aren't you going to answer her question?"  
  
Knuckles growled and started spitting up sentence fragments "Why that is the, Of all the, I mean me and her, You got to be!" During all of Knuckles' ramblings Amy noticed that his cheeks seemed to become redder than his body, so he must have a huge crush on Rouge like she thought.  
  
"I'll take that as a big "yes"!" Amy shouted.  
  
"Aha! I knew it!" Shadow exclaimed.  
  
"I thought as much." Tails said.  
  
"I'm so happy for you, and Cheese is too." Cream said.  
  
"Chao, chao!" Cheese squeaked joyfully.  
  
"I thought you seemed distracted during this mission. I guess I finally know the reason now." Tikal said.  
  
Knuckles didn't know what made him madder at this point. The fact that they had figured out his secret crush on Rouge, the fact that they were teasing him about it, or the fact that they were absolutely right. He didn't know how to react to this situation, so he did one of the things he did best, yell and deny. Unfortunately, what he would say next would be something he would come to regret soon enough.  
  
"How could you fools think that I could ever have crush on a lowly thief like Rouge the Bat! I don't even LIKE her, let alone LOVE her!" Knuckles shouted with such fury that it silenced all of his peers.  
  
Their looks of happiness and joy that were with them a few moments ago were turned to looks of horror at the sight they saw in front of them. Knuckles quickly turned around to see what made everyone freeze, and when he did he gasped out of shock. It was Rouge, who had stepped out the alley and overheard everything. Her face had a look of anger, but her eyes were full of tears. Her tears had left deep stains on her pink heart shaped blouse and her hands were limp by the sides of her black pants. Before she broke down right there, she turned around as quickly as she could and flew off.  
  
"Rouge, wait!" Knuckles cried as he ran over to where she was standing. He tried to catch up to her, but tripped and could only watch her fly off into the distance. "Oh man, what have I done? I've really blown it this time." he said with a guilty sigh of regret.  
  
Knuckles knew what he had to do.  
  
Well, what do you think? Please reply soon. I'm sorry this chapter was so long, but it was necessary to explain all of the details. Until next time, bye. 


	5. Knuckles' Extra Mission

Disclaimer: I unfortunately don't own any of the characters used in this story.  
  
Just as a side note, the Hidden Chamber I was referring to was the chamber in Sonic and Knuckles where Dr. Eggman came and stole the Master Emerald from Knuckles. I also haven't been able to write as much of the story as I wanted to lately, so that's why this chapter took so long to do. I'll try to go faster. Have fun reading.  
  
Chapter 5  
  
Knuckles slowly got up and turned around afraid of what he would see. As looked at his friends, he saw not looks of happiness or of support like he saw a few minutes ago. Instead he saw nothing but saddened and disappointed looks by his friends. Knuckles prepared himself for the worst to come.  
  
"How could you say those things!" shouted Amy. Normally, when Amy was mad, Knuckles was anything but intimidated, but this time it was different. "She really liked you, you big jerk! I know you like her, so why couldn't you just grow up and admit it! And you actually call yourself a man! How dare you!" she said as she reared up to Knuckles' face.  
  
"You shouldn't have said those mean things." Cream said, on the verge of tears. "Mama always said that the worst thing you could do is hurt some one you love. I always liked you as a friend, but now I think you're......a big meanie!" she said before she broke down in front of him. This comment struck Knuckles down hard on his conscience.  
  
"Chao, chao!" Cheese squeaked angrily.  
  
Tails quickly ran over and hugged Cream to comfort her as she cried into her hands. Tails then looked at Knuckles with a such look of anger that it shocked him. Of all of the people Knuckles knew, Tails was the last one he would expect to show anger towards one of his friends.  
  
"Tails, I...." Knuckles began to explain.  
  
"I always knew you were able to fight well, and that you were able to do many things, but I never thought you were able to inflict that kind of damage on someone, no matter what situation you were in." Tails said in a sad tone. "Cream's right, you're....just mean."  
  
Knuckles couldn't believe it. His own teammate and one of his best friends was actually disappointed in him. After all of the meaningless fights he had with Sonic, Tails was anything but judgmental, but even he knew Knuckles had crossed the line this time. Knuckles slapped his forehead in frustration, and noticed the normally green glow of the Master Emerald turning blue in his other hand.  
  
"Wait Tikal, please don't!" Knuckles begged, but it was too late. Tikal had a look that combined both sorrow and disappointment as if she too were about to cry. "No Tikal, please don't leave yet!" and in that instant, she was gone, returning to her dormant position as the spirit of the Master Emerald.  
  
Shadow then walked up to Knuckles with an expression that almost startled him. It contained so much anger and rage that Knuckles was certain he was in for a fight. Knuckles usually would be up for an event like this, but he felt so guilty, he didn't care if Shadow did attack him."  
  
"No, don't worry. I'm not going to hit you." Shadow said in a tone that was much to calm for him. "You're not even WORTH hitting! I admit that I'VE have done some mean things in the past, but YOU'RE just cruel!" he roared.  
  
"Shadow..." Knuckles quietly shot out.  
  
"Do you have any idea what it's LIKE to have your best friend leave you? To know that they won't be with you anymore? Because THAT'S what Rouge is feeling like right now! That the one person she cares for most in the world won't be by her side anymore! I know that pain all to well!" he shouted. "Maria......" he moaned to himself.  
  
"You're.....wrong!" Knuckles shouted in rage trying to deny Shadow.  
  
"You think so!" Shadow replied "When I was in that stasis tank and Rouge found me and Omega, she said she needed help to locate Eggman's secret treasure, but I knew that was an obvious lie. I mean, what secret treasure could EGGMAN of all people have? A secret cache of spare parts, a hidden chamber full of half-baked plans to take over the world? He's not the most complex guy in the world you know."  
  
"What does that have to do with me?" Knuckles asked  
  
"All the time we were traveling with Rouge on her "treasure hunt" she kept saying we have to move faster so we can find it before that annoying echidna does. All the while we were with her she kept saying stuff about the "troublesome echidna" or the "irritating echidna". If you haven't caught on, the important word isn't the adjective, it's the noun which is "echidna"! She kept going on about you more than the "treasure" she was so interested in and probably used us as a cover to mask her true feelings for you the same way you used Sonic and Tails to hide your emotions. I thought even YOU could figure that one out on your own, but I guess I was wrong." Shadow continued.  
  
"That's....not....true!" Knuckles said, forcing out the words to try to conceal the fact that he knew he was wrong.  
  
"You know, you don't know what you've got until you've lost it." Shadow said as he sadly looked towards the sky. "You should take care to remember that."  
  
"Shadow....everyone....I'm sorry. Please forgive me." Knuckles said, as he quickly came to the realization that what everyone said before was right. "I've got to find Rouge and apologize for what I've done. I'll be back later after I talk with her." and with that statement he ran off into the distance of the direction that Rouge had flown off earlier.  
  
"Rouge, I'm coming. I'll make this right no matter what it takes." Knuckles said with determination as he ran at his fastest speed. Unknown to him in his haste, Tikal's image appeared in the Master Emerald and smiled as he ran. "I promise I'll find you Rouge."  
  
Knuckles had been running around the streets with no lead, so he decided to head over to the Mystic Ruins. He remembered that the train headed there would be set to leave in a few minutes. Knuckles quickened his pace and barely made it onto the train in time.  
  
When the train arrived, he quickly stepped of and hoped he would find some sort of lead that would help him on his quest to find Rouge. In all of the confusion, he nearly forgot about his mission to retrieve the other chaos emeralds. He normally would put his any issue regarding his Master Emerald as a top priority to anything else, but in this case he made a huge exception, as he made a startling revelation, that he did indeed care more for Rouge than he did his emerald.  
  
He went as fast as he could towards Tails' house in hopes that Rouge might be there due to the fact that she had made friends with him earlier that day. While he was running over to Tails' workshop, he tripped over the ditch that Tails had made when he found the yellow emerald. Knuckles could still see a faint reminisce of the emerald in the dirt.  
  
As he ran up the staircase, he couldn't think about anything else but seeing Rouge again, not because he sensed an emerald on her when she left the city, but so he could confess his true love for her. However, when he reached the top of staircase, he saw someone else at the entrance of Tails' workshop.  
  
"Hey, I haven't seen you in a while." Knuckles said as the figure turned around to face him casting his shadow in Knuckles' direction. "Listen, I have a favor to ask you."  
  
Knuckles new that his extra mission would be a lot easier than he thought during this encounter. Or so he hoped......  
  
Well, that's it for chapter 5. I'm sorry that there wasn't as much action in this chapter as I hoped, but I promise I'll make up for that soon. Besides, these scenes are instrumental for the later parts of the story. I'll try to write the next chapters soon. Until next time, Bye. 


	6. Evil Shows Its Face

Disclaimer: I unfortunately don't own any of the characters used in this story except E-100 Alpha.  
  
Thanks to my last review, I have decided to use a slightly different method of ending my chapters. That was the last time I'll use a new character's entrance to build suspense at the end. I'll find new ways. I just had a slight case of writer's block, but that ended, which is why I can write this chapter so quickly. Enjoy reading.  
  
Chapter 6  
  
Knuckles faced off in the direction of someone he had just met recently. His metal exterior reflected the sun off into Knuckles' eyes, causing him to step to the side. This bulky robotic acquaintance was highly recognizable by his thick torso and long gorilla like arms and his diminutive legs as the "ultimate E-series robot" Omega.  
  
"You're Omega, aren't you? The robot that was traveling with Rouge and Shadow during Eggman's last attempt at world domination, right?" Knuckles asked.  
  
"Identifying target......Knuckles the Echidna, age:16, birthplace: the floating island, family: unknown, supporters: Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles "Tails" Prower." Omega computed from information in his databank.  
  
"Yeah, that's me! Hey Omega, I need to ask you something." Knuckles interrupted. He was amazed by Omega's knowledge of him, but he was worried about Rouge to the point where it actually made him impatient. Knuckles quickly explained what had happened that day.  
  
"Rouge....is missing?" Omega said shakily.  
  
"Yeah, and it's all my fault. I can be so stupid sometimes!" Knuckles growled to himself. He was getting angrier at himself, until he noticed a small hole on the top of Omega's left shoulder that emitted sparks. "Hey, what happened to you, how did you get that injury? I thought you had some of the toughest armor in the world. I mean, if I couldn't put a dent in you when we fought in the Lost Jungle, then who could?" Knuckles asked with extreme curiosity.  
  
"HE......did this to me." Omega said in his usual monotone manner.  
  
"Eggman, I knew it!" Knuckles guessed. He was so angry that he clenched his hand that wasn't carrying the Master Emerald into a fist to the point where it almost lost circulation. "Only he's capable of such cruelty!"  
  
"No, Eggman was not detected. It was his first creation in the E-series robots, E-100 Alpha. Alpha was meant to be his prized creation, but it contained errors and had put aside for further research. During the time of Alpha's study, E-101 Beta, the upgraded model was complete and then the later E-102 Gamma was also completed along with several other E-series models that led up to my construction." Omega said.  
  
"So why would it attack you? And how could a previous model defeat the "ultimate E-series robot?" Knuckles asked.  
  
"I came to the Mystic Ruins because I detected a large energy source in this area." Omega began. "My scanners had picked up a large source of energy moving very quickly, and I decided to investigate."  
  
Knuckles remembered what Tails had told him and came to a undeniable conclusion. "So the thing that made the burn marks at the bottom of the staircase was E-100 Alpha! That's what must have chased Sonic this morning!" Knuckles exclaimed.  
  
"Alpha was kept in a stasis tank similar to Shadow's until further research could be completed. But the stasis tank had a side effect and the energy used to power the tank also powered Alpha during the creation of all of the E-series robots. His exposure to power has made him desire an endless amount of it, so he has been searching for the seven chaos emeralds. The addition information that my scanners were able to pick up states that since he has the original E-series program system installed in him, if he were to gain access to all seven chaos emeralds, his power would be even more than that of Perfect Chaos and Metal Overlord combined." Omega continued.  
  
"As if this day couldn't get any more complicated!" Knuckles shouted before he had a scary image. "Omega, do you think that Rouge has run into Alpha?!"  
  
"Alpha was able to bypass my scanners by firing out of their range, which hit my shoulder and disabled my firing system. At that time I was able to detect another target in the air flying in an awkward pattern." Omega finished.  
  
"So that's why you were here. You knew that Tails was a good mechanic and was wondering if he could repair the damages to your arm. But that flying thing you mentioned before..... do you think it could be Rouge?! If she was having a hard time flying, then she must be in trouble!" Knuckles shouted. He remembered that every time he had seen Rouge fly, she flew with such grace and elegance that she would always go in a straight line, no matter which direction she was headed. "Oh man, if anything's happened to her, I'll never forgive myself! C'mon Omega, we have to find Rouge, now! Things can't worse!"  
  
"Affirmative." Omega said.  
  
As the echidna and robot duo ran down the stairs, they couldn't think of anything but their primary missions. For Knuckles, it was finding the woman he loved and for Omega, it was stopping his "older brother" from finding all seven emeralds. When they reached the bottom of the staircase, they saw an ominous figure hovering in the air. They both knew who it was and were definitely not looking forward to seeing him.  
  
"No I was wrong, things have gotten WORSE." Knuckles said as faced his aerial opponent.  
  
"It's E-100 Alpha!" Omega exclaimed. "He must be eradicated!"  
  
E-100 Alpha began to descend lower to the point where he was barely, but noticeably hovering above the ground. He was similar to Gamma in his structure, but had Beta 's black coloring except a darker shade and was slightly bigger than them in width and height. He started charging up his cannon on his right arm and aimed it at Knuckles and Omega.  
  
"Hostile life forms detected! They must be eradicated!" he said in a more monotone voice than Omega's.  
  
"I can tell by the way he talks he's related to you Omega, and that means he's one tough customer! But you know what they say, "When the going gets tough, the echidna gets tougher!" Knuckles said with a confident smirk as he dashed towards Alpha.  
  
Alpha fired his cannon and shot out a dark blackish blue beam towards Knuckles similar to Omega's Chaos Inferno which would have easily done him in, until the Master Emerald started to glow and Tikal's image appeared creating a protective barrier around Knuckles and reflecting the beam right back at him causing considerable damage to him.  
  
"Now tell us what you did with Rouge and Sonic, you bucket of bolts or I'll get REALLY tough with you in a moment!" Knuckles said in one of most intimidating tones he could muster. Alpha however took no interest in Knuckles' threat and seemed to be more interested in the master emerald. He then, flew off in the distance, ignoring Knuckles' warnings.  
  
"Well, at least with his injury, he won't be back for a while!" Knuckles said proudly.  
  
"Negative. E-100 Alpha was the only E-series to be built with an automatic healing program in order to recover from heavy damage quickly. He will return." Omega said.  
  
"Oh, you're just FULL of good news aren't you?" Knuckles said in an annoyed tone as he looked towards Omega. He then looked towards a mine cart parked at the outside of a tunnel with train tracks heading towards the jungle. "I think I might know where both Rouge and Sonic might be! I just hope I'm right! C'mon Omega, let's go!"  
  
And with that statement, the two red fighters went in the mine cart and into the unknown.  
  
Well, how did you like that chapter. I tried some variations on my endings, and tried to include more plot points in this chapter. Please review soon. Until next time, Bye. 


	7. Rouge's Plight

Disclaimer: I unfortunately don't own any of the characters used in this story except E-100 Alpha.  
  
Well it's been a really long time since I've updated, and for that I'm sorry. I've just been busy lately. I've also just finished celebrating my birthday this week on August 23rd, so I've been pretty preoccupied with other things. I'll try to make up for lost time, and I really hope that you all enjoy reading this next chapter.  
  
Chapter 7  
  
The rain started to pour hard in the Lost Jungle that was adjacent from the Mystic Ruins, unnaturally hard. The rain hadn't fallen like this in years. The long leaves of the trees had been so wet, that they were being weighed down by the puddles of water that had been formed on top of them.  
  
Rouge knew that she was coming down with something due to the rain shower, but that didn't to phase her. Not even the fact that Knuckles' theory of her being attacked by E-100 Alpha being accurate was causing her true pain. The thing that was hurting her most was what Knuckles had said when she last saw him.  
  
"How could you fools think that I could ever have crush on a lowly thief like Rouge the Bat! I don't even LIKE her, let alone LOVE her!" Knuckles shouted in her mind.  
  
That cruel statement went through Rouge's mind endlessly. Every word cut through her heart like a hot knife through butter. Ever since she had met him in the Wild Canyon, she knew that he was a little rough around the edges, but felt something more when he saved her life at Meteor Herd, even though she was too proud to admit it. But now, she started to realize that the image she had of Knuckles caring for her was simply folly, and that it could never be a reality. This thought hurt her even more.  
  
"That....stupid echidna! Who needs him! I was strong without him and I'll be better off if I never see him again!" Rouge shouted so loud that birds flew off the trees in the distance.  
  
Rouge knew that she was wrong. She could lie to everyone else, but she couldn't lie to herself no matter how hard she tried. In her heart, she knew that she loved Knuckles more than anything else, even the Master Emerald she tried to steal from him. She realized that she didn't love the Master Emerald because of it's worldly value, but because it brought Knuckles and her closer together. She cherished this moment, even if Knuckles didn't.  
  
"Ow." Rouge groaned as she rubbed the joints of where her wings met her shoulders. "That lousy robot must have done a number on me. I've been injured before, but never this badly."  
  
Rouge wasn't exaggerating. Her encounter with Alpha that Knuckles had predicted had left her with several laser burns on her backside, severely damaging her wings and preventing her from flying. To make matters worse, she was almost certain that she was coming down with something. She had been sneezing for quite a while, but as she put her hand to her forehead, she noticed that she was contracting a fever.  
  
"What did that flying bucket of bolts want from me anyway?" Rouge said as she collapsed to the ground out of exhaustion. Her face first fall had caused the red emerald in her pocket to roll out in front of her, answering her question.  
  
"So that's it huh, it was after this emerald the whole time. That's just great." Rouge murmured to herself. "And to think, if I didn't fly through that narrow passage of trees before he shot me down, he would have caught me and I would have been finished. I guess the rain must have short-circuited his sensors before he could find me." she said before she heard some footsteps coming towards her.  
  
Rouge was definitely scared of what could have been approaching her, but she was to sick to fight back if she had to defend herself. She then saw two figures approaching her. One of them was big and rotund, where as the other one was much smaller, and looked as if it walked on four legs.  
  
The smaller figure approached her face and startled her with a loud croak. As Rouge saw the tiny frog hopping towards her, she knew that the huge circular figure behind him could only be one person, and that was Big the Cat.  
  
"Hey Froggy, what did you find over there?" Big said. "Oh, it's the bat lady. I remember her now, she helped us defeat the Metal Overlord that could have hurt lots of people."  
  
Big wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but he wasn't cruel. He saw the injuries on Rouge's back and immediately picked her up in his massive arms. His compassion for smaller and weaker creatures was apparent as he chose Amy and Cream to be his teammates and some of his best friends. He noticed that her fever had gotten worse, as she was coughing and sweating uncontrollably.  
  
"Don't worry Miss Bat, I'll help you get better." Big said in a gentle tone, as Froggy hopped along side him.  
  
Big was an expert when it came to lifting smaller objects since he was so powerful, but he wasn't the best when it came to moving quickly, since he was so bulky, and right now, Rouge needed help fast. Big's heart was in the right place, but as determined as he was to help Rouge, he was undoubtedly lost himself, which didn't bode well for the young bat woman.  
  
"Hey, follow me! I can help you!" a figure in the distance shouted causing Froggy to leap up suddenly.  
  
Rouge was about ready to pass out, when she noticed that the figure was red. She thought for a brief moment that Knuckles was coming to her rescue again as he did in Meteor Herd, but then she remember what she had overheard him say in Station Square today. Her mixed feelings caused enough trauma to cause her to pass out.  
  
"Knu........ckles?" Rouge said as she fell unconscious.  
  
Rouge was scared, she had been sick before in her life, but nothing like this has ever happened. As she drifted into her slumber, she had a rather perplexing dream. She saw herself in a room of darkness and had different visions. The first vision was of the Master Emerald which turned red and formed the second vision. The second vision was of the red emerald she had, which produced an image of Knuckles which said many different things.  
  
"The Master Emerald has the power to neutralize the seven Chaos Emeralds."  
  
"Think what you want Bat Girl, I was only trying to save the Master Emerald!"  
  
"How could you fools think that I could ever have crush on a lowly thief like Rouge the Bat! I don't even LIKE her, let alone LOVE her!"  
  
"I'm sorry.....if I hurt you."  
  
The third vision was of a huge figure attacking Station Square. Rouge thought that the figure was Perfect Chaos like she had seen in the news reports, but the figure started to shoot out laser beams similar to E-100 Alpha's. The disturbing thing about this image, was that E-100 Alpha was much bigger than in his previous form, and his shape had changed. Rouge didn't know if she was right, but she could almost sense that Alpha was much more powerful than before.  
  
"What you see before you is no mere coincidence, young lady." a gentle feminine voice said from behind Rouge.  
  
"Huh, who's there?" Rouge said as she quickly turned around to see the fourth and final image she would see.  
  
The image was faint, and much like a silhouette, but made out of light. The head was much like Knuckles, in that it had the same hair, but the body frame was shorter than his and very much feminine.  
  
"This is what will happen in the nearby future. I have seen it, and without both Knuckles' and your help, the outcome of these events will be dire." the silhouette said.  
  
"Wait a minute, I'm sure I've heard your voice before, are you...." Rouge asked. But before she could finish her question, the silhouette interrupted her.  
  
"Now, awaken my child." the silhouette said.  
  
At that moment Rouge awoke with a cold compress over her head, and had noticed that her fever had gone down remarkably. She also noticed that she was lying in a bed, which was inside of a nice, but small guestroom on the second floor of a building.  
  
"I knew it." Rouge said with a smirk. "It was HER showing me all of those weird visions. I just know it. That's just her style too."  
  
Rouge looked outside of the window next to her bed and noticed that she was still in the jungle, but the rain had stopped, so she guessed that she had been asleep for quite a while. The last thing she remembered was that Big and Froggy had come to her rescue in the jungle, along with a mysterious red figure.  
  
"That proves it." Rouge said with confidence. "You must care for me Knucklehead. Otherwise, why would have made such a big deal about my safety when your emerald clearly wasn't in danger?"  
  
Rouge looked around the room and thought that everything would be okay for the time being, but then asked herself one important question.  
  
"Wait a minute, if Knuckles actually did save me, then he would have taken me to the Floating Island more than likely. So if Knuckles didn't save me, then just WHERE exactly am I?" Rouge thought out loud.  
  
Well, what do you think? Please reply soon. I'll try to continue the story as soon as possible. I hope your having as much fun reading it as I am writing it. 


	8. Rest And Reconciliation

Disclaimer: I unfortunately don't own any of the characters used in this story except E-100 Alpha.  
  
I just finished thinking up the majority of this chapter, so I decided to write it out now before I forgot anything important. This chapter will introduce some new characters into the mix along with some more important parts, and hopefully some more action as well. I hope you all enjoy reading this chapter.  
  
Chapter 8  
  
Rouge was quite shocked at the fact that she had absolutely no idea where she was, or how her injuries had been bandaged up without her knowing. She would have been scared, if the bed she was lying in hadn't been so comfortable. She tried to remain as calm as possible, as she laid her head back onto her pillow until she heard the bedroom door open and saw the red figure she had seen in the forest. When she saw who it was, she was both confused and relieved to see that he was carrying a tray of what appeared to be some toast and tea.  
  
"Oh, you're up are you? That's a relief. You were in pretty bad shape when I found you in the forest. I'm glad to see you're alright. You've been asleep here for about two days now." the red figure said.  
  
"Two days? I must have been tired. Not that I'm ungrateful for your assistance or anything, but I'm just curious, who are you?" Rouge asked with a puzzled look on her face.  
  
"Oh, you might not know me, but I know who you are. My name is Mighty the Armadillo. You might not know me directly, but my friends know you." he said as he placed the tray of toast and tea on a nearby nightstand to Rouge's bed.  
  
"Your "friends"?" Rouge asked with an even more confused expression. "So, are they fans just looking for an autograph, or is there a secret admirer in the bunch?" Rouge asked slyly.  
  
"I see you haven't changed much since our last encounter." said a voice nearby the door that caused Mighty and Rouge to turn their heads.  
  
"Oh come on, she isn't as bad you made her out to be and you know it." Mighty said as he recognized the voice.  
  
Rouge was still confused at who Mighty was referring to since she saw nothing where Mighty was staring at, until a small trace of purple appeared. The feint purple spot manifested until a shape of a familiar figure was formed. The purple figure was wearing his favorite dark black jacket which he used to practice his training in the martial arts.  
  
"Oh, I know you. You're one of the guys that was trying to get your hands on my secret treasure that Eggman stashed away." Rouge said confidently. "What was your name again, Mario of Team Chaotic?"  
  
"It's Espio of Team Chaotix! After all the trouble you and your friends caused us in our mission, you could at least remember our names correctly!" the young chameleon shouted.  
  
"Calm down Espio." Mighty said in a reasonable tone. "Remember, she's still recovering from a near death experience, so there's no reason to bite the poor girl's head off."  
  
"You're right Mighty. After all, a true ninja never lets his emotions cloud his judgment. Otherwise, he won't become one with the spirits that empower him to his full potential." Espio replied calmly.  
  
"Uh......right." Rouge said with a baffled look on her face.  
  
"Don't worry Miss, he always talks like that. It's sort of weird at first, but after awhile you get use to it." Mighty said as reached for a piece of toast. "I'm sorry for the less than adequate breakfast, but the detective agency hasn't been very successful lately in getting a lot of work."  
  
"Oh, that's alright." Rouge said as she reached for some tea. "And by the way, my name's Rouge, not Miss, so you don't have to be so formal, okay."  
  
"You can blame the lack of work on our "great" leader" Espio said sarcastically. "I swear, sometimes that guy's greed is just unbelievable. It even makes Eggman look generous at times. I should have expected as much from a guy whose policy is "We take any work that pays." I mean come on, have some self-respect."  
  
"Oh come on, Espio. Vector's doing the best he can. And he's not THAT greedy." Mighty said as he heard footsteps by the door.  
  
Just then, Vector had come up the stairs with Charmy flying beside him causing massive amounts of noise as they raced up the stairs. The combination of heavy walking and buzzing noises made Rouge glad she had awoke before they had come barging by and disturbing her much needed rest.  
  
"Hey Charmy, I'll bet you ten dollars that I can get down the hall faster than you." Vector shouted out loud.  
  
"You're on Vector!" Charmy replied confidently.  
  
The two raced down the upstairs hall, until Charmy noticed that the other members of the Chaotix along with Rouge were talking in the upstairs room causing him to stop suddenly in midair.  
  
"Hey Vector, the bat lady's awake!" Charmy shouted as Vector slipped and crashed into a nearby wall. "That's awesome!"  
  
"Hey, don't think that gets you out of paying me my money kid!" Vector said triumphantly as he rubbed the back of his head.  
  
"Sorry pal, but we didn't shake on it, so technically the bet doesn't count. Ha ha." Charmy said as he flashed an insolent smile causing Vector to grit his teeth in embarrassment.  
  
"Oh yes, Mighty. He's definitely not THAT greedy." Espio said even more sarcastically than before. "He's even GREEDIER."  
  
"Hey, I like this kid." Rouge said. "He knows how to use loopholes to get himself out of a sticky situation almost as well as me."  
  
"Well, looks like the bat broad finally came to." Vector said arrogantly causing Rouge to shoot him a cold look.  
  
"What? Oh.....sorry." Vector said. "What I meant to say is "It looks like the bat DAME finally came to." This statement resulted in Rouge shooting a colder look than before.  
  
"Yeah, this is the great detective that leads us." Espio said superficially as he shook his head back and forth in shame. "He couldn't even figure out the mystery of why the unplugged television wouldn't work without calling the repairman."  
  
"Hey, you think could do better Espio, I'd like to see you try!" Vector said.  
  
"Um....so on another note, Mighty." Rouge said trying to change the subject. "Why didn't I see you with the other guys if you're part of Team Chaotix?"  
  
"Well it's a very interesting story actually. It was my turn to take out the trash and when I came back in, everyone was gone. I waited and saw everyone of you guys on the television a few days later." Mighty replied. "No wait, I take it back, that isn't actually that interesting of a story now that I think of it. Sorry about that."  
  
"So you were left behind?" Rouge said sympathetically.  
  
"Yeah, but it's okay. Everything worked out didn't it?" Mighty said in a somewhat hurt tone. "Now, I'M curious. What were you doing in the forest when I found you. I didn't get to ask the big cat before he left for help." Rouge then explained her story to the Chaotix.  
  
"Wow, that's terrible." Mighty said. "I didn't think Knuckles at his worst would EVER say something like that. Then you were attacked by that robot in the rain and came down with a fever that was almost life-threatening. I hope your okay now."  
  
"Yeah, don't let it get you down bat-girl." Vector said. " Knuckles isn't the smartest guy in the world. I've known him a long time and he's always doing something stupid. It's not your fault, it's just the way he is."  
  
"It isn't that he doesn't care for you." Espio continued. "It's just that he's not brave enough to actually admit that he cares for you. That's why he responded the way he did. It wasn't out of hatred, but out of fear."  
  
"Yeah. He really likes you." Charmy finished. "When I met Knuckles for the first time, all he would do is frown, but after he met you, he would occasionally smile, so you must be the reason for his newfound happiness."  
  
Just then, the Chaotix heard some footsteps downstairs and immediately all raced down to see who it was. When they arrived, the Chaotix, were a little surprised to see the person that was there.  
  
"Hey Knuckles! What's up bro!" Charmy shouted.  
  
"Hey Charmy." Knuckles said in a dull tone. "Listen guys, I have sort of an odd question to ask you."  
  
"She's upstairs." Espio interrupted. "You were looking for Rouge, right?"  
  
"That's right. How did you know? Oh, I'll think about it later. Thanks Espio." Knuckles said in a relieved manner.  
  
"Oh, and Knuckles." Espio said as he grabbed Knuckles' shoulder. "This time, I'd be VERY careful what you say to her."  
  
"I will. Thanks guys." Knuckles said as he raced up the stairs.  
  
Knuckles ran as fast he could towards Rouge's room. He only had one objective on his mind, and that was to apologize to Rouge so that he could confess his undeniable love for her. As he walked closer to her room, he noticed a silence and took a peek inside, where he saw her facing towards the window and opposite the doorway. He decided to take very gradual steps inside as not to alarm her.  
  
"Hello.....Rouge." he said sheepishly. "It's me.....Knuckles."  
  
Rouge had closed her eyes in order to try to ignore Knuckles' words and to make him believe that she was sleeping, which she executed flawlessly.  
  
"Hi there." Knuckles said even more timid than before as he sat down next to Rouge. "Listen Rouge, I know that we haven't always seen eye-to-eye about most things, heck we haven't really seen eye-to-eye on anything now that I come to think about it. But, I just want you to know that what I said back there in Station Square was nothing but a childish lie. I didn't mean a word of it."  
  
Rouge listened to Knuckles' sincerity and started to slowly open her eyes as Knuckles' continued to pour his heart out.  
  
"I know you must think that I hate you, but that's not true." Knuckles continued. "It's actually the opposite. I really admire you, no better yet, I really like you, a lot, even though I don't actually show it. I guess, I've never really known what it was like to be in love before. Amy knew it, Shadow knew it, everyone else knew it but me. I was nervous when they figured this out, so I lied, and in the process hurt you, and for that I'm truly sorry. What I mean to tell you, is that I...... well I....... I think..... I'm in love with you."  
  
This statement caused both of them to blush harder than they ever had before. They had both come to the mutual realization that they both did love each other.  
  
"Well, I'm glad I could get that off my chest." Knuckles finished. "I only hope you can find in your heart to forgive me. I hope you get better soon, and I'll protect you until you do." he said as he prepared to get up.  
  
"Did you really mean it Knuckles?" Rouge said sitting up and causing Knuckles to blush. "Do you.....really...... LOVE me?  
  
"Well, I...." Knuckles began as he stared into Rouge's beautiful blue eyes.  
  
"Shhh...." Rouge said as she put her left index finger over his mouth.  
  
The two young lovers slowly moved their heads closer until their lips met, and they embraced each other in a nice, sensual kiss. This caused Knuckles to drop his Master Emerald, and unknown to him, an image of Tikal appeared and smiled at the happy couple.  
  
"Well, look what we have here. It's a Kodak moment." said a voice from the doorway that broke up the romance in the air. Knuckles and Rouge looked over and saw the one and only, Sonic the Hedgehog standing there giving them a congratulatory thumb in the air and holding a dark blue chaos emerald in his other hand.  
  
"How's it going guys. Miss me?" Sonic said in his usual cool tone of voice.  
  
"Sonic!" Knuckles shouted. "What the heck are you doing here! And how did you find us anyway!"  
  
"I think you better ask THEM." Sonic said as he pointed his thumb behind himself to reveal that Tails, Amy, Cream, Shadow, Omega, Big, Mighty, Espio, Charmy, and Vector were all behind him standing in the hallway eavesdropping on Knuckles private conversation and confession of love to Rouge.  
  
Knuckles and Rouge were in so much shock that they could only react by blushing again towards all of their peers who were smiling at them and supporting their love.  
  
Well what do you think? Please reply soon. I'm sorry this chapter was so long, but I had so much fun writing it, I lost track of time. I'll try to update as quickly as I can. 


	9. Sonic's Story

Disclaimer: I unfortunately don't own any of the characters used in this story except E-100 Alpha.  
  
In response to my last reviewer VT2, I find the comment about "porn-pics" highly inappropriate. Knuckles was sitting NEXT to Rouge who had her clothes on, and they gave each other a small kiss, like a boyfriend would give his girlfriend. I would not put a sex scene in a G-RATED story. If a kiss is enough to give you the idea of porn, then the majority of stories that I have read that have KNUCKLESXROUGE pairings, or other couples would also have to fall under this category as well. I'm not trying to sound disrespectful, but I would appreciate it if you chose your comments more carefully before you make such a remark. I do however agree that the chapter was kind of long, so I will try to make this chapter shorter. I'm sorry to put you on the spot like this, I have no animosity towards you, but the story has to involve some sort of romance since it is a KnucklesxRouge, SonicxAmy, etc. story. Thank you for reading this. This chapter will have more action, and slightly more romance so I hope you enjoy reading.  
  
Chapter 9  
  
The room went silent as Knuckles sat next to Rouge who continued to remain in shock at the fact that all of their friends had been there to witness their first romantic moment together. Knuckles didn't know what amazed him more, the fact that he had shared a kiss with the woman he loved, or the fact that everyone he knew was also there to share that moment. It was then that he chose to break the silence.  
  
"Hey Sonic, uh..........where did you get that chaos emerald?" Knuckles said trying desperately to change the subject.  
  
"What, this old thing. I found it near Amy's apartment as I was running in Station Square. in order to meet Tails." Sonic said.  
  
"You came by my apartment?" Amy said excitedly.  
  
"Yeah, I was trying to tell you about the big day this weekend." Sonic said which made Amy smile. "Hey now, I was just doing it as a favor to Tails." he said as Amy advanced towards him prepared to give him a hug.  
  
"Oh Sonic, sweetie! I knew you loved me!" Amy exclaimed as she grabbed Sonic's arm in joy and squeezed it tightly.  
  
"Well, it seems we're not the only couples here." Rouge said with a sly smirk which made Tails and Cream laugh to each other.  
  
"Well, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a LITTLE bit fond of you." Sonic said as he took him arm from Amy. "I mean we have been friends a long time after all."  
  
"So will you marry me then?" Amy shouted out causing Sonic to jump back.  
  
"Now look Amy, I may have done some pretty reckless things in the past, but young marriage is not going to be added to the list. Even I'M not THAT fast." Sonic said.  
  
"So Sonic, you still haven't explained how you got here." Knuckles said as he walked towards Sonic. "Where the heck have you been, anyway?"  
  
"Well, as I found this emerald, this huge blackish-blue robot calling himself E-100 Alpha came out of nowhere and attacked me." Sonic started. "I quickly left Station Square and went into the Mystic Ruins, only to find out that I had been followed."  
  
"So, that explains the yellow emerald I found in the dirt the other day." Tails said. "You must have been running so fast, that the dirt from behind your sneakers must have buried the emerald without the two of you knowing it."  
  
"That's when I saw your workshop Tails, and decided to divert the robot's attention to me so I headed towards the Lost Jungle, where I was finally able to shake the robot from my trail." Sonic continued.  
  
"So the robot lost sight of the blue chaos emerald you were holding and must have sensed my red emerald and decided to focus its attention on me." Rouge explained as she walked over to her friends.  
  
"And then when Alpha lost sight of Rouge, it returned to the Mystic Ruins where it met up with Tikal, Omega, and me." Knuckles continued.  
  
"So you guys are saying that this "E-100 Alpha" robot is looking for chaos emeralds, and will do anything to get them?" Mighty asked.  
  
"That's right." Knuckles said. "And when I thought of the danger the others might be in, I asked Omega to go to Station square to warn them after he told me where Rouge might be."  
  
"Affirmative." Omega said.  
  
"And when Omega found us and told us everything, I suggested that we all head to my workshop to take cover." Tails said. "That way, I could also repair the injury I saw on Omega's arm as well."  
  
"Yeah, Tails is a genius." Cream said. "He's really smart and my best friend." This made Tails blush.  
  
"Chao, chao!" Cheese squeaked angrily.  
  
"Oh I'm sorry Cheese, I meant my best friend BESIDES you." Cream said. "And, I'm sorry Knuckles, I shouldn't have called you a meanie back at Station Square."  
  
"That's okay kid. You were right at the time." Knuckles said warmly. "All of you were. I was just to proud to admit it."  
  
"Now I hate to change the subject, but didn't you say that you needed to collect all of the chaos emeralds yourself echidna." Shadow said.  
  
"Oh that's right! I almost forgot about that!" Knuckles exclaimed prompting Tikal's spirit to come out of the Master Emerald clenched in Knuckles' hand.  
  
"Yes, the chaos emeralds must be placed in the sealed chamber soon, or else their power will be uncontrollable." Tikal said in fear.  
  
"Hey guys, you should come and take a look at this!" Charmy shouted as he quickly flew upstairs to the others.  
  
Everyone quickly ran down stairs only to look outside the window only to see the trees surrounding the detective agency shaking rapidly.  
  
"What could be making that kind of commotion all the way out here?" Mighty asked. "The vibrations are occurring way too quickly for it to be an earthquake."  
  
"I sense a dark presence approaching us." Espio said calmly.  
  
"Well, what ever it is, we can handle it!" Vector shouted.  
  
"That's right!" Charmy exclaimed.  
  
At that moment, the trees in front of the building collapsed to opposite sides revealing the source of the tremors. It was another robot, not E-100 Alpha however. It was another familiar red robot of the E-Series, who was one of Omega's "older brothers".  
  
"Hi Gamma!" Amy said as she waved her hand in the air, but Gamma did nothing. "Gamma, what's wrong?"  
  
"I sense a chaos emerald in this older model." Omega said.  
  
"Judging by the last time we saw Gamma fight, I would guess that a model as old as Gamma wouldn't be able to contain the power of a chaos emerald. His system doesn't seem strong enough to maintain the energy that a chaos emerald possesses." Tails said.  
  
"Affirmative." Omega replied.  
  
"But, why is he here then?" Sonic asked.  
  
"Destroy! Destroy!" Gamma said as his normally yellow eyes turned crimson red.  
  
"I understand. I will be the one to face him. Only I can repel his attacks with his circuits malfunctioning at this level from the chaos emerald's energy." Omega said bravely.  
  
The two robots looked at each other and prepared for the robotic duel of the century as the wind in the air rustled against the leaves of the fallen trees.  
  
Well what do you think? Please reply soon. I was trying to shorten this chapter to make room for other key events that happen next chapter. Bye for now. 


	10. Alpha's Last Stand

Disclaimer: I unfortunately don't own any of the characters used in this story except E-100 Alpha.  
  
Well it's finally come down to the last emeralds at last. I'm sorry that it took so long to reach this chapter, but I'm happy you were patient. I know the Knuckles and Rouge subplot took a while, but I thought it turned out alright. Now we return to the main storyline and all of the action. I hope enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.  
  
Chapter 10  
  
The robotic duo of Omega and Gamma faced off against each other in front of the run down detective agency as all of their organic peers stared in awe. Each of the robots determined to defeat the other as they scanned each other's information in their sensors. The tension rose to its climax until one of them decided to make a move.  
  
"I will eradicate you." Omega announced to his older counterpart as he aimed his arm cannon in Gamma's vicinity.  
  
"No, Omega! You can't!" Amy cried. "He's our friend just like you are. Something's wrong with him. Please don't destroy him!"  
  
In the split second that Omega had dropped his guard during Amy's pleas, Gamma had managed to charge up a vast amount of energy that was shining pink, much like Tails' Cyclone's Power Laser technique and fire it out of his arm cannon directly at Omega, who dodged it, but got his arm caught in the blast.  
  
"Oh no!" Tails yelled. "Now Omega's arm is damaged more than last time!" he shouted as Omega's arm was completely sparking up.  
  
"Omega, get out of there, he just too much for you right now!" Rouge yelled.  
  
"Negative, I will not be defeated by an older model. I am Omega, the ultimate E-Series robot!" Omega said defiantly.  
  
"He's just as bad as Shadow." Rouge said to herself. "I swear, organic or metallic, men are men."  
  
"Destroy, Destroy!" Gamma shouted as he charged up his cannon for a second blast.  
  
It was at this time that Tails had noticed that Gamma too was tiring out and starting to barely spark up which delayed Gamma's energy accumulation. This gave Tails an idea, which he knew was a risky one, but he had to try. He took his yellow emerald and prepared to throw it in the battlefield.  
  
"Hey, Omega! Catch!" Tails said as he threw the emerald with all of his might to the bulky robot.  
  
As Omega caught it, he felt surged up with energy, so much that he quickly gathered enough power to pull off his Chaos Inferno technique which made a direct hit at Gamma immobilizing him, but not destroying him.  
  
"De.......stroy........De......str.......oy." Gamma said as he stopped moving.  
  
"It's alright Amy" Tails said as he walked over to inspect Gamma. "He's just shut down for the moment. I can fix HIM and Omega in a little bit. I'm just glad I brought my spare set of tools with me."  
  
"That's a relief." Amy sighed out. "But what could have made him do this?"  
  
"It was probably THIS." Tails said as he yanked something from Gamma's back compartment causing him to fall over.  
  
"The pink chaos emerald?!" Knuckles said. "So Omega was right, he DID have one."  
  
"Yes." Tikal said. "And its negative energies have corrupted this robot with its great power. We must hurry and find all of the emeralds before it too late."  
  
"Well so far, all together, we have six emeralds." Sonic said. "Now if we could find some clue where the last one is, we'd be in business."  
  
"Well, in that case, I think you guys better see this." Mighty said as he led everyone inside.  
  
"What is it Mighty?" Sonic asked.  
  
Mighty then turned everyone's attention to the television set in the living room area which showed a news report of an "unidentified robot." terrorizing Station Square shouting the words "chaos emeralds." as he shot his greenish-blue lasers down on the unsuspecting public. Everyone knew that it was obviously E-100 Alpha, even without the zoom in shot of him at the end.  
  
"Man, that guy doesn't give up." Sonic said.  
  
"Well, what are we going to do? If we DON'T give him the chaos emeralds, he'll destroy the city searching for them and many innocents will be in danger." Amy said.  
  
"And if we DO give him the emeralds, he'll be unstoppable and then more than likely destroy the city and us with it as his first target of his new power." Shadow continued.  
  
"The worst pat of this scenario is that he already has the last emerald." Knuckles said.  
  
"What?! Are you kidding? How do you know that?!" Rouge asked in a shocked manner.  
  
"When I fought him with Omega before, his laser was a dark blue color, but in the news report it was slightly green and much more powerful. This suggests that Alpha must have found the green chaos emerald, and is searching for the rest at any cost." Knuckles said with a sense of despair.  
  
"That's it!" Tails exclaimed causing everyone to stare at him. "I know how to defeat Alpha!"  
  
"What is it?" Amy asked in a desperate fashion.  
  
"There's no time to explain. I need all of the emeralds you guys have found and I need Sonic and Knuckles to come with me." Tails said and in that instant, his friends didn't ask any more questions and did what he instructed."  
  
"Thank you guys." Tails said with enthusiasm. "Just watch the TV, I'll be okay."  
  
"Well I guess it's Team Sonic to the rescue again." Rouge said. "Just promise me one thing Knuckles, that you'll come back alive ,okay." she said with a wink towards him causing him to blush.  
  
"No sweat Rouge! This robot's going to the junk heap!" Knuckles said with a confident smile on his face.  
  
"That goes for you too Sonic." Amy said mimicking Rouge's winking gesture.  
  
"You know it Amy! I've always managed to take of myself before and today will be no different." Sonic said confidently.

"Please be careful Tails." Cream said with a concerned look on her face.  
  
"Chao, chao." Cheese squeaked joyfully.  
  
"I will Cream. Don't worry. I'll be okay." Tails said.  
  
"Don't screw up! I know it'll be hard without ME to help you, I mean I AM the ultimate life form after all. But just TRY to do a somewhat decent job." Shadow bellowed.  
  
"We'll try to manage without you Shadow." Sonic said, acknowledging Shadow's words of good luck.  
  
"Sonic, I need you to take us to my workshop as fast as you can!" Tails exclaimed.  
  
"Okay, little bro, but what do you need there?" Sonic asked.  
  
"I'll explain later, but we need to go NOW!" Tails said nervously.  
  
And with that statement, the three young heroes were off headed towards Tails' workshop with Sonic holding one of his friends' arms in each of his hands. They raced at supersonic speed, but both were somehow able to notice that Sonic could run faster than usual and finally arrived at the Mystic Ruins where they quickly headed for Tails workshop.  
  
"Okay, now what do you need Tails?" Sonic said impatiently.  
  
"Hold on." Tails said as he rushed inside.  
  
The side of the workshop opened up revealing a secret door that lead to his holding bay where he kept all of his best inventions, including his transforming plane, the Tornado 2 which could also morph into the Cyclone. The trio quickly hopped inside and headed towards the site at Station Square where Alpha was last reported to be seen.  
  
"Wow, this is great!" Sonic shouted. "At this rate, we'll be there in no time!"  
  
"Now tell us Tails, what's your plan for defeating Alpha?" Knuckles asked.  
  
"Well, do you remember when Gamma was fighting Omega, and how he started to spark up when he attacked?" Tails asked.  
  
"Yeah, so." Knuckles said.  
  
"Well, I have a theory that just like Gamma, Alpha isn't able to handle an excessive amount of the chaos emeralds' energy for a long period of time, especially considering how unstable they are now. If we fire all of the power of the remaining chaos emeralds combined with the Master Emerald's, we might be able to overload his circuits and shut him down permanently." Tails said with a hint of doubt.  
  
"That's a brilliant idea, why didn't I think of it?" Knuckles said with a sound of relief.  
  
"It's not as brilliant as you may think Knuckles, because if my theory's wrong then he might actually absorb that energy and become more powerful then ever." Tails continued.  
  
"Either way, we've got to try it. It's our only hope." Knuckles said.  
  
"Hey guys, look who it is down there!" Sonic said almost ready to laugh as he saw that Dr Eggman was trying to fix his egg-shaped pod on a nearby building. "Hi Eggman, having a little trouble there?"  
  
Eggman just growled and waved his fist in rage as Sonic flew by.  
  
"Well I guess the mystery about where Alpha got the green chaos emerald is finally solved. Too bad for Eggman, having to do all that work finding it for us just to have Alpha steal it." Sonic said in a relaxed tone.  
  
"Don't get so calm Sonic, because there he is!" Tails screamed as he saw Alpha in the distance. Apparently, Alpha's sensors had picked them up on his scanners, because the metal menace had turned around and aimed all of its weapons towards them. This forced Tails to slow down his Tornado's speed and morph into the Cyclone.  
  
"I will have the chaos emeralds." Alpha muttered as he charged up the energy from the emerald he possessed giving his body a dark green glow.  
  
"Alright guys, it's do or die time. I hope this works." Tails said somewhat timidly.  
  
"This is what being a hero's all about! We're going to win no matter what!" Sonic said with a cocky expression.  
  
"I didn't come this far to lose! I won't be beaten by a tin can on a power trip!" Knuckles said with determination.  
  
At that moment, both the Cyclone and E-100 Alpha fired their most powerful attacks, resulting in a huge beam fight. The Cyclone shot out an incandescent multicolored beam containing the power of all the emeralds that it was powered by, whereas Alpha's beam was a dark green. The two beams raged towards each other, and Alpha was taking the upper hand.  
  
"I don't know if we can do it guys!" Tails yelled.  
  
"I know we'll win this, we just have to!" Sonic shouted.  
  
"That's right, we're not just going to give up now!" Knuckles roared.  
  
Just then, an image of Tikal appeared in front of the Cyclone. Tikal then made a barrier, that not only powered up the Cyclone's beam, but reflected most of Alpha's blast right back at him causing a huge explosion that engulfed not only Alpha, but Sonic and his friends as well as a huge portion of Station Square.  
  
Well, that's it for now. I'm sorry to leave you hanging, but the chapter has reached its limit. Please review as soon as possible and I'll try to hurry up. Good-Bye for now.


	11. The Sealed Chamber

Disclaimer: I unfortunately don't own any of the characters used in this story except E-100 Alpha.  
  
To my latest reviewer Gogehenks, I agree that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but your criticism had several big flaws which I will list.  
  
1. Tails IS the smartest character, not the best, but the smartest, and IS a "goody-goody" as you put it.  
2. Shadow's ego is MUCH bigger than Sonic's, because he refers to himself as the "Ultimate Life Form" every time he talks about himself.  
3. Tikal DID help Knuckles find the Master Emerald in Sonic Adventure as the hint balls in each level.  
4. How can I write a TAILSXCREAM story WITHOUT CREAM???? I don't think the greatest writer on Earth could pull that off, let alone an average one like me.  
  
You also said you didn't like Cream because she was a whiny girl that cried at everything. Guess what, she's six and that's reality. Just because SEGA made her that way doesn't mean that my story is necessarily bad. I may not be the best writer in the world, but I know you can't blame me for SEGA's character concept, and I'm not saying that just because I like Tails and Cream. I'll focus more on my writing if you focus more on your criticisms BEFORE you type them. I'm not trying to disrespect you, but I'm just making a point.  
  
I'm sorry about that, it's just when I get reviews like that, I feel that the reader doesn't know all of the facts before criticizing the story so they give it negative feedback without having proper evidence to fully back up all of their claims. Now, let's get back to the story. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.  
  
Chapter 11  
  
The explosion that the Cyclone's and Alpha's attacks made when they collided caused a huge iridescent flash that lit up the whole sky. Everyone was caught in awe as they saw the burst of light that outshined the sun as they looked up into the sky, wondering if anyone had survived the final attack.  
  
As the smoke from the impact in the sky cleared, there was only one sight in the air of a green orb slowly descending to the ground. When the orb reached ground level, it slowly faded away to reveal that Tikal's barrier had protected Sonic and his friends in the Cyclone from the explosion that Alpha made when he was destroyed.  
  
"Whew, that was close." Sonic said.  
  
"That's what that robot gets for trying to mess with us!" Knuckles said proudly as he made a confident smirk.  
  
"I guess alls well that ends well, right guys?" Tails said as he made a big grin.  
  
"We couldn't have done it without you, Tikal." Knuckles said.  
  
"That's right. Thank you Tikal. You really saved the day back there." Tails said to her.  
  
"Thank you." Tikal said happily.  
  
"Well, I guess that's enough work for one day. C'mon guys, let's go home." Sonic said as he put his hands behind his head in a relaxed position.  
  
Just then, Tails noticed that a small power source was emanating from where Alpha's remains had fallen. He quickly walked over to examine it, and noticed that it was the green emerald that Alpha had used in battle a few minutes ago as he picked it up with a claw hidden in his Cyclone's chest compartment.  
  
"Hey guys, now we have all of the chaos emeralds." Tails said as the emerald in his claw and the ones inside his Cyclone started to glow.  
  
"What the heck is happening?!" Sonic asked in a concerned manner.  
  
"Oh no!" Tikal said in fear. "I was hoping we had a little more time left, but the fight with Alpha must have empowered the emeralds even more making them highly unstable. We must hurry to the sealed chamber at once!"  
  
"Right." Tails said. "Hang on guys, the next stop, the Floating Island!"  
  
And with that statement, Tails morphed his Cyclone into his Tornado and headed towards the Floating Island as fast as he could. When they eventually got there, the plane started to slow down and came to a subtle stop right before the shrine where the Master Emerald usually stood. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles unloaded all of the emeralds as quickly as they could, noticing that they were pulsing even faster than before.  
  
"So where is this sealed chamber anyway?" Sonic asked impatiently.  
  
"Follow me to the top of the shrine!" Knuckles said.  
  
When they reached the top of the shrine, Sonic and Tails were confused for a moment, until they noticed that Knuckles had stepped onto a switch that was on the floor and blended in perfectly with the pattern of the rocky top of the shrine. This caused a light to shine from the floor which teleported them onto a pedestal in the sealed chamber.  
  
"So Knux, how come you never showed me that trick?" Sonic said, slightly still in shock.  
  
"Until now, the sealed chamber has never needed to be visited. The Master Emerald has also served as a lock guarding the door to this place as well as the life source of this Island." Knuckles replied.  
  
They looked around and guessed from the indentations on the wall that the cave they were in had to be both very old, and very deep underground. They saw another pedestal in the area that looked almost identical to the Master Emerald's shrine, but smaller and held seven smaller slots instead of one big one.  
  
"Hurry, place the emeralds in those slots before it is too late." Tikal said.  
  
Sonic, Tails and Knuckles did as she instructed placing every emerald inside an individual slot. When they were finished, a light appeared from above the shrine showing a feint image of what looked like, a female echidna sleeping. As the image slowly became clearer, everyone was shocked to see what resulted.  
  
"What the......it can't be!" Knuckles shouted.  
  
"Oh my goodness, that's.....my....body." Tikal said as stared in confusion. "But how can this be?"  
  
"What does this mean?" Tails asked. "I don't understand."  
  
"I.....think I do." Tikal said. "Yes, I remember now. When Chaos was first created, I used my own life energy to seal him and his power inside the Master Emerald. I thought I was destroyed when I made this sacrifice, but my spirit was actually separated from my body, which was lying dormant deep within the emeralds' power while my spirit was trapped within the Master Emerald."  
  
"So, if the emeralds are finally put to rest, do you think you can reclaim your body since their power over you will be released?" Sonic asked.  
  
"I....don't know." Tikal said in doubt. "I thought that the Emeralds time to rest was approaching and that was all, but this brings up new questions."  
  
"Hold it right there!" a familiar voice shouted from behind them causing them all to turn their heads.  
  
"Shadow?! How the heck did you get down here?!" Knuckles asked.  
  
"When I saw you had defeated Alpha, I knew you would go to the sealed chamber as soon as possible." Shadow answered. "I followed you and saw the switch you stepped on, echidna. I just came down here to reclaim my white emerald, and that's final. You can do what you want with the rest."  
  
"Are you insane?!" Knuckles roared. "If you take the white emerald back now, the world could be in danger!"  
  
"I don't care! I've already given enough to this world as I needed to! That emerald's a keepsake of Maria, and I'm not going to sacrifice it, or her memory just to help you or anyone else out!" Shadow yelled.  
  
"Now listen Shadow, I know you miss Maria, but you've got to understand, if you take the white emerald back now, not only will the world be in danger, but Tikal might not be able to be revived." Tails plead.  
  
"Tikal? Revived?" Shadow asked with a sudden hint of concern.  
  
"Yes, Tikal." Tails said. "The young lady over there who healed your leg after your injury in Station Square the other day. Her body is floating above the shrine right now, and if the chaos emeralds lose their power, she might regain her life. Like you, she sacrificed herself for the good of others, but she wasn't as lucky as you."  
  
Shadow looked at the spirit of Tikal, and then stared directly above her to the top of the shrine, but he didn't see her body like the others had, instead he had an image of Maria who simply nodded at him. Shadow immediately knew what this gesture meant, as he looked down again at Tikal.  
  
"I see. So that is what you truly want Maria." Shadow said to himself. "It's funny, Maria's favorite color was white which is why I let the white chaos emerald carry her memory. She may have had a short life, but she knew how important it was." he said to the others.  
  
"You won't lose Maria when the emerald is gone, because her memory will live on through you, and you'll be responsible for saving a life. I'm sure that would make her happy." Tails said.  
  
"You're right." Shadow said as he nodded, and let the emeralds become drained of the last amounts of their power.  
  
The emeralds started to pulsate much slower than before until the vibration stopped completely and the emeralds lost their colors, giving them the image of jagged stones that were indistinguishable from one another. Soon afterward, the emeralds turned to dust and the light that held Tikal's body hit her spirit, and in a blinding flash, she was returned to her body and gained a second chance at life.  
  
"I can't......I can't believe it. I'm actually......alive." Tikal said in astonishment as she felt her face. "I can....actually feel my skin again!"  
  
Just then, the pedestal that took them into the sealed chamber lit up once again, along with the Master Emerald. The chamber started to fall apart, due to the excess power that had been exposed in the small sanctity of the cavern.  
  
"C'mon guys, we have to get out of here, the chamber is about to collapse!" Knuckles shouted.  
  
"Yes, without the chaos emeralds, the chamber cannot remain standing for much longer. We must evacuate immediately." Tikal said.  
  
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Sonic said as he grabbed Tails' and Knuckles' arms and headed towards the pedestal.  
  
"Rest in peace, Maria." Shadow sighed to himself, as he took one final look at the crumbling shrine.  
  
"Shadow." Tikal said tugging his arm. "I'm sorry, but we have to leave now."  
  
"Alright." Shadow said sadly. "I'm ready to.....Watch out!" he yelled as he pulled Tikal back from a pile of rocks that landed in the spot she was standing. "Let's go." he said as held her hand and headed towards the pedestal. In the blink of an eye, all of them had teleported outside of the Master Emerald's shrine before the sealed chamber caved in.  
  
"Whew, that was a close one." Sonic said.  
  
"Yeah, I'm just glad it's all over." Tails said.  
  
"What the?!" Knuckles exclaimed as he looked at his Master Emerald in the shrine. "What's happening to my emerald?!"  
  
The Master Emerald soon afterward went through the same transformation as the chaos emeralds did. It first started to pulse rapidly, then it slowed down and lost its rich green color and soon faded to dust that gently touched the ground and caused the island floor to glow for a moment. Knuckles fell to his knees in shock.  
  
"Don't be upset." Tikal said gently as she put her arm on his shoulder. "This was destined to happen. Without the chaos emeralds, the Master Emerald has no purpose as well, and dissipated back into the ground from which it was made. Your days as a guardian are over. You're free to do whatever you would like now, the power of the Master Emerald has returned to the soil, which will keep the island afloat and healthy."  
  
"That's great Knuckles!" Tails said in joy.  
  
"Now you can do all the things you've always wanted to do." Sonic said.  
  
"But....this is...all that I've known how to do....my whole life. I don't think that there's anything else I really have wanted to do." Knuckles said, still slightly in shock.  
  
"What about hanging out with ROUGE? I KNOW you've thought about that, quite a bit I bet!" Sonic said with a taunting smile.  
  
"Hey, WATCH IT!" Knuckles shouted as he blushed.  
  
"Hey guys, calm down." Tails said gently.  
  
At this time, Tikal had diverted her attention to Shadow who was standing near the edge of the island, looking towards the sky. She immediately knew what Shadow was thinking about and decided to go over and comfort him.  
  
"I'm sure she's looking down and smiling at you from Heaven." Tikal said in her kindest tone. "Yes, I'm sure she's very proud of you right now."  
  
"Oh....you mean Maria, don't you?" Shadow said as he looked at her. "Thank you, that means a lot to me. You remind me so much of her."  
  
"I should thank YOU for that remark. I know I can never replace her, but I would still like to be your friend." Tikal said as she looked at the sky. It wasn't until a small breeze passed by that she noticed that she was holding Shadow's hand. She wasn't afraid or uncomfortable with this however. Shadow seemed to notice this also, and smiled as they both looked on together in the clouds.  
  
"Tikal......thank you." Shadow said somewhat nervously.  
  
"You're welcome." Tikal replied.  
  
"Well, would you look at that." Sonic said in an amazed way.  
  
"I think that's great that they get along so well." Tails said happily.  
  
"It's good, that they've both finally found happiness." Knuckles said with pride.  
  
Everyone was frozen with a sense of calmness and tranquility at the sight of the beauty of the clouds drifting slowly in the sky. They were all overcome by a sense of contentment that made their recent trials and tribulations that they had endured seem all the more gratifying.  
  
Tails had only one thought on his mind at the time, "In just a little while, the big weekend will begin! I can't wait!"  
  
Well, what did you think? Please reply soon. I thought Shadow and Tikal made a good couple. They seem right for each other. Good-Bye for now. 


	12. The Last Day

Disclaimer: I unfortunately don't own any of the characters used in this story except E-100 Alpha.  
  
Well, it's finally happened. Yes, that's right, we've reached the final chapter. I hope you've all enjoyed writing this fan fiction as much as I enjoyed writing it. This last chapter will hopefully answer any remaining questions you might have left. Thank you all who reviewed my story and helped me make it better along the way.  
  
Chapter 12  
  
Several days had passed since Alpha's defeat and the disintegration of the chaos emeralds and the Master emeralds. As Tails woke up that morning in his workshop, he immediately looked at his calendar, and noticed that the weekend he had been waiting for had finally arrived.  
  
"Oh, wow!" Tails exclaimed. "I can't believe the big day is already here!"  
  
Tails quickly ran downstairs to the front door and opened it in a hurry only to find out that a shadow was above his doorway. He assumed that the shadow was placed as if someone was perched on the roof. When Tails look behind him on the roof, he found out he was right as he saw a familiar figure standing there.  
  
"Hi there, Rouge!" Tails said as he waved to her.  
  
"Hey there, kid." Rouge said back.  
  
"What are you doing here so early?" Tails asked.  
  
"Well, I remembered that while we were watching you fight E-100 Alpha on the news the other day, Amy had mentioned something about a special event that was happening today and that you were trying to tell everyone about before complications arose." Rouge said as she flew down to him.  
  
"That's right. Today is a special day. I need to contact the others to make sure they haven't forgotten." Tails said in a hurry.  
  
"Well calm down, Tails. I have something here that will make your life a lot easier." Rouge said as she reached into her pocket.  
  
"Oh wow, a cell phone!" Tails exclaimed. "This would have saved me a lot of trouble before."  
  
"Yeah, I ran into Sonic today, who suggested this idea. He may be reckless at times, but he's a pretty smart guy when actually stops and uses his head." Rouge replied. "Tell everyone to meet us at the Floating Island."  
  
Tails then used the phone and called each of his friends and did as Rouge instructed. He first called Amy and Cream. Then he called the Chaotix, and they said they would find everyone else and meet them at the island. Tails and Rouge quickly went to the island together to see if anyone was there. When they arrived a little while later, Tails found Knuckles, Tikal and Shadow.  
  
"So, Knuckles what are you going to do now that the island has no need for a guardian anymore?" Tails asked.  
  
"I decided to stay here for now. I don't have a reason to leave right now, anyway." Knuckles answered.  
  
Rouge quickly noticed that Shadow and Tikal were standing very close to each other and decided to ask them a question.  
  
"So, are you two kids an item, or what?" Rouge asked, making a sly smile.  
  
"Shadow and I are friends who are getting to know each other, and Knuckles was kind enough to let us stay on the island with him." Tikal replied.  
  
"Well, I guess you'll have one more roommate on the island now also, Knucklehead." Rouge said extending her smile.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Knuckles said nervously.  
  
"I think I should stay here too, I mean, if I didn't, you'd obviously miss me too much. Am I right?" Rouge asked winking at him.  
  
"Well, yeah....but I" Knuckles started.  
  
"And with no Master Emerald or chaos emeralds anymore, you don't have any reason to be scared, because I have no reason to steal from you, so you don't have ANY excuse to reject my offer." Rouge said as she came closer to him causing him to blush.  
  
"She's got you there, Knuckles." Tails said trying to contain a small laugh.  
  
"Oh, what the heck. Sure you can stay Rouge." Knuckles said.  
  
"Alright!" said a voice from behind them causing them to turn their heads.  
  
"Sonic! When did you and the others get here?!" Knuckles shouted as he noticed that all of his friends were standing behind him smiling.  
  
"We actually just got here." Amy answered. "That's great Knuckles. Now you won't be lonely anymore."  
  
"I'm glad you have more friends now." Cream said sweetly.  
  
"Chao!, chao!" Cheese squeaked happily.  
  
"That's great and all, but what are we celebrating anyway?" Espio interrupted.  
  
"Yeah, what's so special about today?" Charmy asked.  
  
"Don't you remember?" Tails asked him back. "It was exactly one month ago today that we all worked together to stop Metal Overlord and all became friends."  
  
"I think that's pretty special." Big said.

"What's a "Metal Overlord?" anyway?" Mighty asked.  
  
"We'll tell you about it later." Espio said.  
  
"So, if we're supposed to have some sort of party, where's the food?" Vector snapped.  
  
"Oh, that reminds me, I forgot to do something in Station Square. I'll be back soon." Sonic said as he dashed off in the distance.  
  
"Come back soon Sonic sweetie!" Amy yelled.  
  
"So Tikal." Rouge said as she approached her. "Was that weird dream I had a little while ago your doing like I thought it was?"  
  
"Well, I guess you could say that. You also had that dream because Knuckles was the top priority on your mind. That's why the emerald transformed into his image if I remember correctly." Tikal said as she smiled.  
  
"I knew it." Rouge said.  
  
"I wonder where Sonic went off to." Mighty said.  
  
"I don't know, so does anyone want to play charades or something?" Charmy asked.  
  
"I think I'll pass." Espio muttered out.  
  
"That goes double for me too." Knuckles said turning away.  
  
"The Ultimate Life form does NOT play games." Shadow said coldly.  
  
"Oh, come on Shadow." Tikal said pulling his arm "It might be fun."  
  
"That's okay Tikal." Rouge said. "Besides, they're just SCARED they'd lose."  
  
Just as Rouge finished her sentence, Sonic rushed by carrying a huge stack of what looked to be at least a dozen pizzas. The stack was so enormous that from Rouge's frontal point-of-view, It looked as if it was running towards her instead of Sonic.  
  
"Okay guys, so who's hungry?" Sonic said as he placed the stack of pizzas on the ground and stepped aside so that the others could reach them.  
  
"Hey Sonic." Amy said attracting his attention. "Just where did you get all of that pizza anyway, and how did you pay for it?"  
  
"Well Amy, when Tails, Knuckles, and I saved Station Square from E-100 Alpha, the people were grateful. So grateful in fact, that the local pizza parlor said I could drop by anytime if I had any requests. That's when I got the idea to get pizza for this little bash. Food was the one thing my little bro didn't count on when he wanted to throw this party." Sonic explained.  
  
"Well, I'm not perfect." Tails said as he bit into a slice of pepperoni pizza.  
  
"Your fine just the way you are." Cream said as she fed Cheese a slice of sausage pizza.  
  
"Chao, chao!" Cheese squeaked happily.  
  
"Wow, the little guy sure can EAT." Sonic said. "I guess that a chao named Cheese would like pizza of all foods."  
  
"Oh yes, Cheese loves it." Cream said. "He was always a picky eater, and cheese was the first food that he liked. That's why he's named Cheese."  
  
"I should have figured." Sonic said.  
  
The festivities continued throughout the day and went straight through the night where the stars began to shine and moon lit up the sky. Very soon after the gang noticed several constellations in the sky, a meteor shower occurred and everyone made wishes to all of the falling stars they saw.  
  
"I'm just curious Amy, what did you wish for?" Sonic asked.  
  
"If I tell you it might not come true." Amy replied.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry." Sonic said.  
  
"Don't worry. I already got what I wanted." Amy said as she leaned her head on Sonic's shoulder.  
  
"I guess some things never change. Oh well, it's too beautiful a night to worry about it anyway." Sonic said as he looked into the night sky.  
  
After the party, things between the gang went smoothly as ever. Sonic still races on with Amy Rose chasing him all the time. There has been a rumor, however, that he starting to occasionally slow down a little more every time he sees her.  
  
Tails and Cream spend a lot of time together now. Whether he's watching Cheese for her, or showing her his latest invention, the two of them are still good friends. They are now almost inseparable.  
  
Knuckles and Rouge are still living together on the Floating Island together. They still have an occasional argument about one thing or another that leads to a physical fight. Afterwards though, they always apologize, and somehow grow closer as a couple.  
  
Shadow and Tikal also live on the Floating Island alongside Knuckles and Rouge. Shadow talks to her about his memories with Maria. Tikal also talks to him about the history of the ancient echidna civilization. They too have become good friends.  
  
Big the Cat still lives in his hut in the jungle, along with Froggy. They spend all of their free time lounging around and fishing all day. Occasionally, they are visited by Amy and Cream, but their schedule never changes.  
  
Omega and Gamma currently reside within Tails' workshop watching over it, and protecting him when he is there. They decided if they have to work for a genius, they'd pick a kind fox over a crazy eggman any day.  
  
The Chaotix returned to their normal jobs as detectives. Their business hasn't really been that much more successful than usual, but their policy of "We take any work that pays." has made them the most popular detectives around.  
  
Everyone knew that the adventure with E-100 Alpha and the chaos emeralds was indeed a special one. Even though they had many more afterwards, they never forget that particular adventure, because it made them all closer friends in a real Sonic Team Adventure.  
  
The End  
  
Well, what did you think of my first fan fiction? Please reply soon. I might even write another one when I have some more free time on my hands. Good-Bye for now.


End file.
